Man in Tweed dot Com

Books and More

This post was written by Mike

Random Notes:

The only problem with using the wonderful Inter-Library Loans (ILLO) system we have here is that it occasionally works too well. I now have a stack of basketball books sitting on the kitchen table that I was  expecting to trickle in over the course of a month or two. Eeks.

Book 17: Marque and Reprisal by Elizabeth Moon

I mentioned earlier that I love Elizabeth Moon’s writing and I suppose I should explain my thoughts a tad. In Moon’s universe humanity has had faster than light (FTL) drives for eons and have scattered across the various parts of the galaxy. With me so far? Good. What makes her universe a little more special is the fact that she uses her history degree to make sense of the future. In the Vatta series (of which this is book two) independent traders load up their ships, spend weeks at a time out of communication traveling to the next port of call, and hope to whatever deity they believe in that they picked the right goods so they can sell them for a profit, fill their ships with more goods, and continue the process. Think of it as an intergalactic version of the 16th and 17th centuries. This is what the future looks like in my mind or at least close to it. I have the galaxy running along the same lines of the government of Canada, a whole bunch of people who live together, don’t really get along, but take solace in the thought that we’re not them, with intergalactic trading being done under a revised version of the Hudson’s Bay Company charter. But I digress. Did I mention pirates yet? No? Well there are pirates. This is the equivalent era of the privateer and letters of marque. Again, a perfect use of history to show that we’ll end up doing the exact same damned things in a few centuries.

The other part of Moon’s writing I enjoy is that each book is a stand alone novel but still manages to exist in an overarching plot with series galateo-political consequences (is that the equivalent of geo-political?)  I admit I’m one of the few readers in the world who love political space operas and these books fill a need.

Oh yeah, this book itself is really good too. I’m enjoying the character progression and the darker side of military life that’s appearing. Rating: A

Book 18: Life on the Run by Bill Bradley

This is one of Doug Smith‘s suggested reading list for basketball fans and I can certainly see why he put it there. This is a compelling story of a man existing in the realm of professional sports and the sort of mental trials that come from living such a life. You don’t become a professional basketball player to be famous, you do it because basketball is what you are good at, in many cases it is the only thing you can do. It is an addiction. It is isolating. The first part of the book deals with life on the road and how separate from reality it actually is. It is a stunningly beautiful, yet emotionally brittle, painting of life as a player in the era of social and economic changes. There are so many details that I want to write about but I cannot seem to put them down with any semblance of justice to the book. Let me put it this way, I’m going to be putting it on my wish list and will no doubt read it many times, gaining new insight each time I read it. Rating: A+